Friday, February 5, 2010

New books

There are a few new books out about food I am hoping to get to soon but thought I'd mention them here now. One is by someone I've written about so much people probably could call it a crush: Michael Pollan. He recently came out with Food Rules: An Eater's Manual (actually came out the end of last year -- check it out on Amazon here). The books is very brief and goes through 64 principles of good eating rather than the style of his more in depth works (like The Omnivore's Dilemma) . Reviews have praised it for providing great guidance on shopping and eating habits. There is just something about Michael Pollan that makes you believe and trust him. It is hard wading through the thick crap of advice and mixed messages we get on food, shopping, general nutrition, etc. Pollan provides some trustworthy guidance from someone who is not himself a scientist of any kind, but just a great researcher, digester of material, finder of truths under many layers of b.s. and a trustworthy conveyor of those messages in a clear format.

Another recent book I'm excited to check out is Jonathon Safran Foer's Eating Animals (this came out in November -- check it out on Amazon here). Safran Foer is the amazing and very young author of Everything is Illuminated (since made into a movie starring Elijiah Wood) and to me the even more impressive Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Eating Animals is his first non-fiction book, and as I understand it is as much a memoir as anything else -- or at least goes through his own personal investigations into the subject. I recently saw a few people reading this poolside in Miami. I have a feeling it will bring the discussion to groups who will read anything by Safran Foer but otherwise might never approach the subject. But we'll see. Guys like Peter Singer may be brilliant and more informed, but it probably takes someone in their 20s or early 30s with a pen perhaps one day worthy of a Pulitzer to get the messages across to our generation and those below. Here's an article he wrote for the NYT Magazine shortly before the book was published: The Fruits of Family Trees.

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